Morning Rundown: 2024 minor league guide available on Amazon
Get your copy of the 2024 minor league guide on Amazon now
Some great news to pass around, a few of us here on the site got together with John Dreker and some guys at Draft Nation to write ‘Pittsburgh Pirates 2024 Minor League Guide, which is available on Amazon right now.
With it, you get in-depth scouting reports on the top 50 prospects in the system as voted by a collective panel that included NolaJeffy, WTM, Emmet Mahon, John Toth, and myself. There is info on players beyond the top 50 as well.
It also has some history on the Pirates farm system, with added content from John Dreker and David Finoli.
Pick up your copy on Amazon today. Paperback and Kindle versions are available.
A big shoutout to Joe Kuklis and Draft Nation, David Finoli, and John Dreker for including me. It was a blast, and I hope to make this a yearly thing.
The Pirates kick off their Spring Training schedule today against the Minnesota Twins. First pitch is expected around 1:05 pm ET.
Bailey Falter is the projected starter, with Jared Jones, Michael Plassmeyer, Josh Fleming, Jose Hernandez, Kyle Nicolas, and Hunter Stratton also expected to pitch.
Since the game is at Fort Myers, it would be on the Twins to broadcast the game, which they are not.
The first televised Pirates game will be on Sunday, against the Baltimore Orioles.
That little tidbit about how everyone can read my feelings further on Jaden Woods a few weeks back, the guide has a 500+ word breakdown of why I think his arrow is pointing up this year!
A big thanks to David Finoli for putting together the minor league guide. He approached me with the idea of having a prospect guide that also included the history of the Pirates building their team at different points in history. I tackled four of the seven short stories that are spread throughout the book, showing how they built their first pennant winner, talking about Roberto Clemente joining the Pirates, as well as a look at the 1974 draft 50 years later. He also allowed me to throw in any extra story I was saving from a little known part of baseball history when Pittsburgh was one of a handful of big league teams to attempt to have a minor league team in their own city. It's a fascinating look at the first attempt of an affiliated minor league team, with a very interesting back story.
Don't get me wrong, this book centers around the prospect rankings, but you get a lot more than just 50 player bios (plus the top 25 players outside of the top 50 also have small write-ups). The group of seven writers did an outstanding job, while David brought it all together.